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About Me

6/27/2013

Edgar Cayce was born March 18, 1877...me March 20, 1938. His sun sign was Pisces also. I feel he must have received an overdose of intuitive and psychic. I'm still not certain what I received...other than the extremely sensitive trait of that sign.

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A few weeks ago my daughter told me about a neighbor who had killed a big rattlesnake in his backyard and shortly afterwards I lay down to take a nap. I don't remember what the rest of the dream was about, all I remember is at the end of it, our new boxer puppy came prancing up on our deck bringing me a snake in it's mouth and I woke up terrified.

Today, I was sitting out at the end of our deck and saw the puppy and the larger boxer, Oaklie, go around the side of the house and soon heard the puppy barking loudly. I'm thinking..."What did Snoop find now he's so darn excited about? Another root in another one of my flower beds to dig up?"

I got up to go see what the fuss what about and as I reached the corner of the house, the puppy pranced around the corner with a little snake dangling in its mouth. I started yelling at it and had to run after it and bop it's head to make it let go, then bagged the battered reptile to get an expert opinion on whether it was a rattler or a rat snake, I couldn't tell because it's head was rather mangled but the markings were light and dark brown and it was fatter than I thought a rat snake would be at that stage, though I couldn't detect rattlers on the seemingly stripped tail. It was dead, but hadn't been for long. I'm thinking it got messed up in the neighbor's lawnmower this morning and crawled under the fence with it's last slithers...and nosy two month old Snoop thought he had found another grand leather "prize" to chew on. He thinks that of every belt and shoe he finds. I keep telling the kids to close their closet doors because we have a "snoopy" sneak thief at large.

*****

In the midst of my long and arduous "religious" research, I experienced a week of wonders I'm still hard pressed to be able to explain. It began on a Monday morning, my mind a blank, feeling an extreme joy I did not understand. I went to work as usual, felt ecstatic all day long, and later that evening, every time I closed my eyes, I began seeing a vivid technicolor reel of scenes from ancient times detailed like none I had ever seen before. I had no idea what they were or where they came from but became so fascinated, all I wanted to do was lie around with my eyes closed and watch the "movies," mostly comprised of a high spirited woman that seemed to span many centuries in various civilizations and scenarios. I took the last two days off that week from work just to lay around and be amazed at the wonder of the unusual entertainment beneath my eyelids.

By Friday, I became afraid the diversion might not turn off so I could concentrate on what I needed to, my job and my daughter. Then a frightening scene happened that really shook me up and I started begging, not sure who, to turn the endless movie off. That's when a "voice" inside my head told me that these were scenes from my past lives and if I didn't believe it, to go jump in the deep end of my swimming pool and I would comprehend...after "it" explained why I was afraid of deep water. That scared the heck out of me because all my life I had been afraid of water for a variety of scary reasons from my youth and had never learned to swim.

But, still fascinated and curious, I called my best friend over who could pull me out if I got in trouble, and I jumped in the deep end and immediately felt like an ecstatic fish embracing my natural environment for the first time, I could do everything in the water I never could before...and the scenes beneath my eyelids immediately turned off.

I wrote about this phenomena in my memoir and it's results, one was, that for several weeks after the strange event, I could effortlessly see people's auras of various colors and that fascinated me even more. Someone told me about his opinions of auras, and I began to read about Edgar Cayce and his lifelong experience with this sort of thing. I figured it was just another weird detour on my "religious" research. Cayce wrote a number of books about his experiences and there are hundreds written about him and his "readings." He had only an eighth grade education but evidently Edgar Cayce spent a lifetime learning and experiencing. His legacy is still very active today.

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Who Was Edgar Cayce?Twentieth Century Psychic and Medical Clairvoyant

Edgar Cayce (pronounced Kay-Cee, 1877-1945) has been called the "sleeping prophet," the "father of holistic medicine," and the most documented psychic of the 20th century. For more than 40 years of his adult life, Cayce gave psychic "readings" to thousands of seekers while in an unconscious state, diagnosing illnesses and revealing lives lived in the past and prophecies yet to come. But who, exactly, was Edgar Cayce?

Cayce was born on a farm in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1877, and his psychic abilities began to appear as early as his childhood. He was able to see and talk to his late grandfather's spirit, and often played with "imaginary friends" whom he said were spirits on the other side. He also displayed an uncanny ability to memorize the pages of a book simply by sleeping on it. These gifts labeled the young Cayce as strange, but all Cayce really wanted was to help others, especially children.

Later in life, Cayce would find that he had the ability to put himself into a sleep-like state by lying down on a couch, closing his eyes, and folding his hands over his stomach. In this state of relaxation and meditation, he was able to place his mind in contact with all time and space — the universal consciousness, also known as the super-conscious mind. From there, he could respond to questions as broad as, "What are the secrets of the universe?" and "What is my purpose in life?" to as specific as, "What can I do to help my arthritis?" and "How were the pyramids of Egypt built? His responses to these questions came to be called "readings," and their insights offer practical help and advice to individuals even today.

Many people are surprised to learn that Edgar Cayce was a devoted churchgoer and Sunday school teacher. At a young age, Cayce vowed to read the Bible for every year of his life, and at the time of his death in 1945, he had accomplished this task. Perhaps the readings said it best, when asked how to become psychic, Cayce’s advice was to become more spiritual.

Although Cayce died more than 60 years ago, the timeliness of the material in the readings — with subjects like discovering your mission in life, developing your intuition, exploring ancient mysteries, and taking responsibility for your health — is evidenced by the hundreds of books that have been written on the various aspects of this work as well as the dozen or so titles focusing on Cayce's life itself. Together, these books contain information so valuable that even Edgar Cayce himself might have hesitated to predict their impact on the contemporary world. In 1945, the year of his passing, who could have known that terms such as "meditation," "Akashic records," "spiritual growth," "auras," "soul mates," and "holistic health" would become household words to millions?

Edgar Cayce founded the non-profit Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in 1931, to explore spirituality, holistic health, intuition, dream interpretation, psychic development, reincarnation, and ancient mysteries—all subjects that frequently came up in the more than 14,000 documented psychic readings given by Cayce. It is still very active today. ***

*** Credit : "Who Was Edgar Cayce?"Association For Research And Development

6/25/2013

Back when I instantly gave up my inherited religion one day in the early 1970's because it suddenly no longer made sense to me after a priest tried to abuse me, I felt lost as to how to replace the void I felt. That is when I decided researching religion would become mine. I figured if there really was a merciful "Supreme Creator," it would understand why I chose this path rather than continue having faith in priests who would cast me out as a sinner...or try to seduce me...or a Pope

who would damn me for using permanent birth control after giving birth to five beautiful children I had to support and educate.

It's been a very long and interesting path I was inspired to research with detours into every aspect of Biblical, Pagan, Hindu, Christian, and every other religion known to man and written about. It was way before computers I began my research so I used the library extensively. Somewhere in there I ran across a comment stating Astrology was the oldest religion known to man and that fascinated me. Mostly because the Catholic Church "condemned" the flock for having anything to do with it. So of course, I dove right in with both feet once I found there was a lot written about it in history and most ancient religions including all Native American's.
I was compelled to search all the places those unfaithful priest of my past had told me not to go near. As part of the research I ordered my personal natal horoscope which is based on the exact location and moment of your birth. I was curious to see what they had to say about me knowing nothing of who I was. I was simply amazed at how accurate they described my personality and traits...the good and the not so good.

In ancient times people found their faith in the stars, yet present day
Astrologers are often accused of lack of belief in religious values and, in
some cases, have even been mistaken for witches and regarded as extremely
dangerous. I'm sure this is because there are so many unscrupulous fakes out there scamming folks for money telling distraught people what they want to hear...exactly like some religions do. I guess the Pope thought all astrologers were fakes and that's why he considered it the "work of the devil." Hum. Fortunately, after I quit believing in the Pope I quit believing in the devil. It simply no longer made sense that a reasonable Godwho would create humanity would also create a devil to tempt it and an eternal hell to punish it in.

Many
Astrologers, like many scientists, are immensely spiritual, and the subject can certainly be argued that it is just another piece of the Universal Puzzle. Astrology is built on the
very simple philosophy, "As above, so below". It is not meant to take
away from religious or moral values, but to enhance them, and those who study it tell us
that not only does it aid understanding, but leads us forward into closer study
of the meaning of life and, indeed, our spiritual purpose...and why each of us is unique in respect to that purpose.

Someone of
real faith should not be threatened by other's beliefs because they should be secure in their own but many theists are not secure in what they can't prove. In a number of religions, past and present, Astrology
has been looked upon as a necessary tool to enhance our spiritual growth.We all approach life in different ways. We are all unique, but most are the same in our unwavering search for the truth. Some accept things on blind
faith, others don't, but, it may be well worth examining other opinions more closely before dismissing them as having no merit.

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A few quotes from my lengthy natal horoscope:"The sign that you were born under referred to as your sun sign is of the most significance. It indicates your basic traits and points out the areas that are of the most importance to you. The planets are the indicators of how you will go about acquiring your goals and attaining your desires in life."

"At the time of your birth the sun was in the sign of Pisces. The sign of Pisces is ruled by the planet Neptune. You are so sensitive Pisces. You are intuitive and possible psychic. These traits can be very beneficial to you but only when you are not emotionally involved with a person."

Well...crud! When have I not been emotionally involved with a person?

"You will learn all there is about things that interest you. You will cope with the details as well as the over all picture. At times your thinking will be so deep and intense it can bring on bouts of depression. You need to develop a sense of humor."

Oh hell yes I had to!

"It could be that you are very intelligent, but the full advantage of the intellect is not used until well after maturity."

I'm still waiting to take full advantage. :)

"You should have no problem concentrating. It is important that you broaden the mind and pay attention to new concepts."

I still am...by reading other religious opinions on blogs. Oh my! I thought confirmed theists could be radical...but confirmed atheist's can be also. Agnostics seem tobe less so and I feel that's where I fit best...admitting Isimply don't know the truth and can't find it written anywhere."You could possess talent in music or writing. This is indicated so strongly that you can gain financially through your talents."Hum...eleven years of piano lessons, thousands of pieces of tear stained paper with heart wrenching words typed and tossed in the garbage, and a published memoir I titled "Confessions Of A Crazy Fox"..and the financial gain?... I'm sure, was much lessthan what was spent. Oh well, never did any of it for money"

I named my memoir that because when I didn't agree with my older brother and he would call me "crazy," Daddy would smile and often remark, "Yep Jim...Anna Marie is crazy all right, crazy like a fox....you better leave your sister alone...she has a mind of her own and you are not going to change it once she makes it up."

Daddy, Jim & I, 1940."Violence and words of anger upset you more than most people""True...it usually tends to make me want to write those who commit it and tell them exactlyhow I feel about it. I have written a few spicy letters along my path and I admit...frustrated anger inspired the memoir."******

My sun sign is so apropos...quite often I have no idea what direction to swim in next.I hadn't taken out my natal horoscope in over a decade and it inspired me to write this post about Astrology. It goes though each phase of what each planet was in conjuncture with what, and what house, etc...and what it all indicates as for who I am...the positive and negative influences of the Universe directly over my head at the moment of my birth. I realized after browsing through it again, and once again being surprised at how close to the mark it comes, if I had taken the advice it gave, I would probably have taken a much less bumpy and wiser road than the one I traveled. I'm not surethat would have resolved any of my "brother" problems or not. Seems we were born destined to disagree, though we were both born in the exact same spot on the exact same bed three years apart...me on the first day of Spring...him on Thanksgiving. Oh well, I'm hoping I still have a few more interestingpaths to take seeking knowledge. It appears from what the Astrologers wrote to have been my destiny.

Now I'm wondering if is was "impossible" to avoid those unfaithful priests I encountered who steered me on to this

unpredictable path of potholes and remarkable revelations...maybe it was written in the stars I make this unpredictable zig-zag "religious" journey that would lead me to a comfy Agnostic point of view... admitting the truth of where all this marvelous and miraculous creation came from is not written anywhere by any man nor is there any script written and signed by any "god" anywhere on earth that can be authenticated . It doesn't really matter.

I finally found the peace I went searching for.I thank whatever "God" may be for that blessing.

Italy-2002...The year my research formally ended and I began my memoir.

I found answers that had alluded me in the last place Iever expected to...The lavish Vatican.

REACHING is the true story of a woman who
dredged the depths of mental hell throughout her traumatic
life of abuse as a child and teenager. First, by an uncaring, dismissive, and unreachable
mother who showed no apparent love for her from her birth. Grace also had a physically and mentally abusive father and together the parents embedded the seeds of mental agony that would haunt their daughter way into adulthood.

Grace sunk into a spiral of sex, drugs, and alcohol as a teenager, trying
to reason with her torment, and that only exasperated her anguish. She began
cutting herself trying to let the anguish flow out. Fortunately, she met and
married a caring and sympathizing man and had children she adored, but that was
not enough to set her free from the demons that remained, the horrific
flashbacks and nightmares that constantly haunted her. She was still searching
for a "cure". She tried suicide to relieve the pain and was briefly hospitalized but evidently they didn't recognize the depth of her problems and she was released from the psych ward in less than a week with nothing resolved to help her cope.

Grace and her family joined a strict religious group trying to resolve order
in her life and was ultimately sucked into another extremely unhealthy
relationship with Brock, a mind controlling pseudo "religion" psychologist who convinced Grace her grandfather had sexually abused her in a "satanic cult" he belonged to, and thus, she was inhabited by demons. The charlatan she trusted and became emotionally "addicted" to promised he could heal her of the devils…but didn't. His "shock" therapy only made
her situation worse until she began to feel she wasn't inhabited by demons at all…she
was one. Under controlling Brock’s influence, she concluded, “None of the thoughts I held were my own.
Every daydream, every impulse, every concept, idea, opinion, everything,my entire mind wasdemonic…Pure
hell.”

The conclusion of the memoir is how Grace finally broke away from Brock’s
control and found medical help that was successful and set her on a course to be relieved of the torment.

The story is raw and descriptive, well written, and spell binding, with Grace able to draw the
reader into her tormented world to feel her unbearable pain and anguish. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever
wondered what having to live with mental agony in a distorted world is like…terrifying
and treacherous. Reaching proves real life can be stranger than fiction, but that with determination one can turn a torture filled existence into a loving, fulfilling, and appreciated life.

I applaud Grace for finally being able to break the mental chains that bound her for so long.

Grace Peterson

About the Author

Grace Peterson now divides her time between working as an administrative assistant, writing, and gardening. She is a member of The Association of Writing Excellence and The National Association of Memoir Writers and has published essays in several anthologies. She authors two blogs and does a newspaper garden column. She is the proud mother of four grown children, four friendly felines, and has been married to her best friend since 1980. You can find her blogs at:

6/13/2013

The last two years our part of Texas has been in a severe drought, but this year we have already had over 20 inches of rain and it's still showering almost every day. Everything that remained rather dull and dormant the last couple of years has sprung back to life in vivid color and every shade of green imaginable in our yard. I'm a happy gardener once again.

There are several pots of hibiscus on this end of the deck that are loaded with buds and should start blooming quite a show of color soon.

This orange hibiscus has at least a dozen blooms a day now.

Last year my annuals didn't last long in the heat. This year they are thriving.

I am addicted to hibiscus and have a number of variety's including these tropical s.

I have six or eight tomatoes every day that ripen and we are enjoying them.

No tomato is as tasty as a vine ripened tomato.

Well, I live in Texas. How could I not like jalapeno peppers? I grow the mammoth kind. :)

I do hope my plumeria bloom this year. I fell in love with the fragrance in Hawaii.

I planted these above and the ones below from a few plants a friend in Houston gave me a couple years ago and they come up in every pot on the deck in the spring so I have a number of them around. They are profuse and delightful bloomers.

This is an avocado tree. Doubt it will ever get big enough in a pot to produce fruit but I like the leaves. I see I have some yuk ones to trim away.

Marigolds bloom well and provide a lot of color.

A variegated phlox I'm trying for the first time and it's doing well. I love lavender.

Inpatients are also prolific bloomers.

So are verbena.

The sacco palm just put on a lot of new fronds and the Lantana and Esperanza are blooming nicely.

I broke off a small branch from one of these blue evergreens several years ago from a neighbor's that is huge and started these two. These won't get that big in pots but will make nice "Christmas" trees.

This poinsettia was almost six feet tall at Christmas and loaded with beautiful blooms. I've had it going on four years and don't let it freeze, but do cut it back in early spring to encourage new growth. Just keep them well watered in the summer and it's well worth the

show during the holidays.

Our tropical bed almost died out last year but it's come back with a vengeance with all the rain.

The former owner of the house did make nice rock borders everywhere

that make the beds easy to tend.

The Rose of Sharon didn't bloom at all last year. This year it's lovely.

Our pink and white crepe myrtles are just beginning to bloom and will soon be covered.

I'm happy you stopped by to share my garden.P.S.

My first Muy Grande Luna hibiscus bloomed last night. They are the largest blooming

flower there is and this bush is huge this year and will soon be putting on

6/01/2013

When I began my long research on religion in the 1970's, after becoming painfully disillusioned with mine, I haunted library's for decades reading almost everything on every religion I could find. I studied all the pros and cons of theist's versus scientific and other views, but wasn't satisfied with what I had gradually come to believe until I read the "ultimate" scientist, Albert Einstein's views and decided his explanation was good enough for me to accept. It's brought me more peace than religion ever did, though I remain very spiritual in my own way, I consider myself now to be an agnostic. So did Einstein. Below is a sample of Einstein's views of "Cosmic Spirituality."

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In Einstein's 1949 book The World As I See It, he wrote: "A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man."Einstein referred to his belief system as "cosmic religion" and authored an eponymous article on the subject in 1954, which later became his book Ideas and Opinions in 1955. The belief system recognized a "miraculous order which manifests itself in all of nature as well as in the world of ideas," devoid of a personal God who rewards and punishes individuals based on their behavior. It rejected a conflict between science and religion, and held that cosmic religion was necessary for science. He told William Hermanns in an interview that "God is a mystery. But a comprehensible mystery. I have nothing but awe when I observe the laws of nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver, but how does this lawgiver look? Certainly not like a man magnified."] He added with a smile "some centuries ago I would have been burned or hanged. Nonetheless, I would have been in good company."In a 1930 New York Times article, Einstein distinguished three human impulses which develop religious belief: fear, social morality, and a cosmic religious feeling. A primitive understanding of causality causes fear, and the fearful invent supernatural beings analogous to themselves. The desire for love and support create a social and moral need for a supreme being; both these styles have an anthropomorphic concept of God. The third style, which Einstein deemed most mature, originates in a deep sense of awe and mystery. He said, the individual feels "the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves in nature ... and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole." Einstein saw science as an antagonist of the first two styles of religious belief, but as a partner in the third. He maintained, "even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other" there are "strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies" as aspirations for truth derive from the religious sphere. For Einstein, "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." He continued:

"a person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations to which he clings because of their super-personal value. It seems to me that what is important is the force of this superpersonal content ... regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a Divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities. Accordingly a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance of those super-personal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation ... In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be..."

An understanding of causality was fundamental to Einstein's ethical beliefs. In Einstein's view, "the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science," for religion can always take refuge in areas that science can not yet explain. It was Einstein's belief that in the "struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope" and cultivate the "Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself."

Religious views of Albert Einstein: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia